A love story between unconventional, unlikable characters; a story of redemption for a selfish father; a story of hope for a lost soul. Rust And Bone is all of these, and features a tour de force performance from Cottilard. At times beautiful, haunting at others, it’s frustrating that something seems a little off throughout and the film doesn’t manage to hit the high notes it reaches for even though all the ingredients are there.

I think the two most notable things to say from my perspective on Rust And Bone are the performance by Cottilard, and the gnawing sensation that something was going to go badly wrong before the end – the film feels throughout like a bleak Haneke tale and I was always expecting the worst. I don’t know if that can accurately be called tension or if that is merely me projecting onto the film, but it was there nevertheless. Cottilard’s performances speaks for itself, and many thought she would get another Oscar nod for it. She stars as a woman – Stephanie – almost in the femme fatale vein, who works in a French equivalent of Sea World, giving Orca performances. She appears to be in a loveless, potentially violent relationship and spends evenings in dodgy night clubs. One night she meets Ali, a man with a violent, mistake-led past who has recently become the club’s bouncer. He has only moved to the area to live with his sister to try to find some stability for himself and his young son. After an accident at her job Stephanie has both legs amputated and enters a serious depression. Over the course of the film, we watch as Stephanie and Ali form a closer relationship, but still suffer from inside and outside problems and stresses. As the film progresses, the two begin to rely on each other potentially to the detriment of their other responsibilities and we wonder if tragedy will strike again.

I would recommend Rust And Bone to any genuine film fans – it’s a difficult tale to watch at times, but the redemptive journey and the burgeoning central relationship is genuine and affecting. As I mentioned, I kept waiting for the film to take a stark turn, but I cannot add any further comment in that respect without giving away spoilers. Audiard’s films are always impressive and thought-provoking and tend to receive much critical acclaim – this one is no different, but when you throw in an actress with now world wide renown the bar is raised that little bit further. It isn’t always easy, it isn’t always simple, but that’s love.

Let us know in the comments what you thought of Rust And Bone and if you feel it deserves the adulation it has received.

In Sri Lanka, two strangers, Dheepan (Jesuthasan Antonythasan) and Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), find a war-orphaned girl (Claudine Vinasithamby) and sell themselves as a family in order to find passage to France as refugees.

Dheepan is a good movie held back mainly by its adherence to its well-worn story. It’s not so much what it does as what it doesn’t do. From frame one, it promises to be something new, interesting, and even educational — the story of the modern refugee has been told, but not particularly often, so there’s plenty of room to further explore its dynamics; moreover, I think it’s fair to say the average person in the west knows little to nothing about the Sri Lankan civil war, leaving the movie with a certain mandate to make that situation real for its viewers, to capture its nuance and the specific ways it impacted those who experienced it. Few films have been better positioned to offer a fresh perspective on recent historical events — lead actor Jesuthasan Antonythasan was a Tamil Tiger as a teenager and currently has refugee status.

So it’s strange that Dheepan instead chooses to be a fairly ordinary family drama/slow burn thriller — a compelling and well-made one, to be sure, but ordinary just the same. It engages, but it isn’t terribly interesting. It forces you to ask plenty of questions — what is it like to be a refugee? What politics/morality underlie this situation? How do you see the desperation of the situation you’re currently in when your mind remains on all of the people in your home country who would give anything to have what you have? What is the effect of three strangers playacting a family in order to preserve their lives without functioning like one behind the scenes? And it just never engages them.

There’s a lot to explore here, but the movie settles for something more straightforward. It’s partly an awards season sort of family drama about three characters who don’t know each other being thrown together and slowly becoming their own sort of family, and it’s partly an indie thriller about refugees dealing with being resettled in a rough neighborhood on the precipice of a drug war. Both story arcs proceed simply and end up more or less where you’d expect them to. They’re both well-done, with solid characters, strong atmosphere, and a leading trio of universally outstanding performances — but they’re well-done in ways I’ve seen before.

To me, this story never felt specific enough — it plays out as though this is a generic bad situation with no layers other than the obvious ways in which it affects its characters’ respective emotional states. With minimal changes, the movie could have been about anyone — that they’re refugees only provides a reason for the three leads to be drawn together, and somewhat heightens their sense of isolation in their new home, due to the language and cultural barriers (the former of which seems somewhat easily resolved). But the movie isn’t building on any of that nuance, simply incorporating it in the foreground of a much more familiar narrative. I’m not convinced it completely earns the ending at which it arrives.

I think part of the problem may be that it’s stuck in a difficult place on the “show, don’t tell” scale, where it wants to drop you in the middle of a situation without a lot of fanfare and also tell much of its story by implication and the effect is that a lot of it is too vague. Even as a family drama/thriller, its emotional ends require that the audience have a detailed sense of its characters’ inner lives, but I never felt like I was in their heads. I like that the movie includes little bits of texture here and there, solely to give its characters lives outside of the frame — that Dheepan is a tinkerer who uses common household items to craft makeshift tools for himself and to create little pieces of art, for example. But that’s all it is — texture, something that’s nice to have but isn’t a substitute for psychology. The movie forces you to reinvent its protagonists as you go; their personalities occasionally make jarring leaps that aren’t forecast in any way. The character development is happening beneath the surface, and if you aren’t tuned into the movie’s exact wavelength, certain things aren’t going to make sense.

Ultimately, what Dheepan needs is a more interesting perspective. Jesuthasan certainly has a story to tell, but my impression is that his consultation on the film consisted mainly of correcting inaccuracies in the French writers’ script. I’m now reading that director Jacques Audiard intended to make a variation of the movie Straw Dogs set in a community most people don’t know about and just happened to settle on Sri Lankan refugees. Those puzzle pieces are clues as to how Dheepan might have arrived at its broad storyline despite the real-world specificity of the events it depicts.

This is coming across more critical than I intend. It’s easier to fixate on this than the acting or direction being strong; I don’t know what to say on those subjects other than that they’re strong. Dheepan is a fine film and worth seeing; it’s just a shadow of the more interesting film that sometimes starts to take shape around it.

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Fri, 07 Oct 2016 11:28:57 +0000Sachin Shrijithhttps://projectedperspectives.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/read-my-lips-a-perfect-blend-of-hitchcockian-thriller-and-tender-romance-from-jacques-audiard/She is a hearing-impaired woman who works as a secretary at a construction company. He is an ex-con who has just been released from prison. On the surface, it doesn’t look like there is even the slightest chance of these two becoming a romantic couple. Read My Lips is the cinematic representation of the phrase “Opposites attract”. A perfect blend of Hitchcockian thriller elements and tender romance, this film from French maverick filmmaker Jacques Audiard stars actor extraordinaire Vincent Cassel as Paul, the ex-con and the unusually beautiful and extremely adorable Emmanuelle Devos as the introverted woman Carla.

Branded “losers” by the society they inhabit, these two cross paths when she, overwhelmed by the immense pressures of her job, Carla decides to hire a male assistant to share the burden. She is in her 30s and he is in his 20s and although their initial confrontation is awkward, things gradually start to ease up a little. Paul learns that she has the ability to read lips and make out what everyone around her is talking about, including the insults that make behind her back. To them, she is a “dog” who somehow managed to acquire this very handsome young man. The sexual tension between gradually builds when on one occasion, he tries to force himself on her. Whether she wanted it or not is unclear but she takes advantage of this situation to get him to do something for her.

The favors just don’t stop there as Carla slowly learns that Paul is trying to go back to his former ways and has something planned in the near future that would make things complicated for both of them – more for her. Like I said earlier, Paul and Carla are not your ideal romantic couple that you often see in the movies. Carla decides to get involved in Paul’s scheme for, we assume, the kicks. She has been leading a frustratingly boring life for a long time and every time one of her friends talks about the flings they’ve been having lately, she feels pathetic. In Paul, she sees a potential mate – a reckless “bad boy” with a nice heart who may or may not rescue her from her not-so-happy existence.

It’s when Paul puts his plans in motion that the film veers into the white-knuckle thriller territory. A few scenes brought to mind Hitchcock’s Rear Window and North By Northwest. The film benefits from a taut screenplay and well-etched out characters and Audiard did the right thing by casting these two phenomenal actors. Alexandre Desplat’s memorable and poignant background score sets up the right mood and atmosphere and is so apt for the film. I adore this film and it belongs in my list of favorite romance films.

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Sun, 11 Sep 2016 10:47:11 +0000Nadia Cheunghttps://nadiacheungblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/dheepan/If you know anything about the Sri Lankan Civil War, you probably might feel that it was a war, derived from a conflict between the Singhalese and Tamil people of Sri Lanka, that was not reported on as much as it could or should have been. Described as a “war without witnesses”, a lot protests happened over the years, but many probably didn’t know why or what they were about other than that “it’s probably something to do about Sri Lanka and politics, maybe.”

Dheepan is a drama following a family of strangers headed by a former Tamil Tiger militant taking on the identity and passport of a dead man named Dheepan (FYI: the Tamil Tigers were a guerrilla organisation who wanted to gain Eelam as an independent Tamil state, and employed militant tactics to do so, but lost to the government). They leave behind a post-war Sri Lanka to settle down and seek refuge in a housing project somewhere in France with undesirable residents, where violence and crime is just as apparent and is just as much of an everyday occurrence.

Dheepan takes on a job as as housekeeper of the building, sorting out the cleaning, mail and maintenance—all the while manoeuvring around French self-made criminals and gangsters hoisting guns and swaggering around the residence ready to point, shoot and kill at any given moment. Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), Dheepan’s faux wife takes on the simple task of cooking and cleaning for a nearby resident, all the while resenting that she is France and not in the England where she could have been with her cousins and familiars. She gets caught between trying to make peace. She lacks any maternal instincts and has a tumultuous relationship with 9-year-old Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) who equally has just as much as a hard time connecting with two random grown-ups who pose as her parents, as well as a new school, and learning French.

The ending was pretty disappointing to say the least, but that’s because I’m not a fan of predictable romance. And the romance was predictable. But it’s okay, because the whole story overshadows that and you won’t have to think about the shabby ending montage anyway. The acting performances in this film were pretty great, and this was probably the most gripping part of what made the film so intense and dramatic for a crime drama film. The cinematography was probably best of all, with a fitting soundtrack that didn’t overcompensate and abuse the subject matter to near-exploitation.

Overall, writer-director Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone, A Prophet) brings us into another drama about love, family and humanity. The script is great and the dialogue wasn’t too shabby for a French film that was mostly in Tamil. Dheepan won the Palme D’Or at Cannes Film Festival 2015, and brought widespread attention to the Sri Lankan Civil War. Though still today, there still isn’t the media attention that there could be, and that makes me really question about where popular media stands about these kind of things, but I guess that sadly not many people think it’s worth knowing about.

A young French-Arab offender rises through the ranks of the prison hierarchy to become a drug runner and enforcer for Corsican mobsters by playing both sides of the racial divide.

This highly effective and intelligent prison drama by auteur Jacques Audiard is an extremely gritty examination of a young man who has no control of his own life and haunted by the murder he was forced to commit to prove his loyalty to the criminals to whom he is unwillingly allied. The performances are all top notch but it is Tahar Rahim’s superb central performance that draws you into this grim and seedy world that shows crime as far from a glamorous activity, rather a ruthless dog eat dog crucible of ugly, vicious men perpetrating ugly, vicious acts. The DVD cover is plastered with quotes from lazy reviewers comparing it to Scarface and The Godfather, but A Prophet has little in common with those films; its tone and style for me was rather more reminiscent of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher trilogy.

It’s simply a smart, well directed and brilliantly performed prison bound drama that will probably be a little too dark for some tastes but is one of the best examples of its kind for many years.

Dheepan, directed by Jacques Audiard, is a film with an honesty to it; with that, comes the pleasantries, the sadness and the darkness of real life. This is a film that at times almost doesn’t feel like a film, more like a slice of real life. I found myself totally enraptured by Dheepan, and I’m looking forward to breaking down the many stellar elements of it, in this review. So without further a due, let’s begin.

It is Dheepan himself – played by Jesuthasan Antonythasan – and his pretend wife, Yalini – played by Kalieaswari Srinivasan – who we follow in this film. Along with their pretend daughter (Illayaal) the three are refugees who flee Sri Lanka after a terrible war. They end up in France. Given menial jobs and now living on an estate that is crawling with criminals, both Dheepan and Yalini start to adapt to the very different lives they now lead. However it is the troublesome relationship between this forcefully created family that drives the film.

The absolute heart and soul of this film is its two lead characters (of whom I’ll be talking quite a bit about in this review). First: Dheepan (Jesuthasan Antonythasan), what works best about this character are the layers to him. Upfront we see a man who has left his past behind and looks as if he has himself together, but as the film progresses is begins to unveil someone who is very much still affected by the horrors he saw – and perhaps committed – back home in Sri Lanka. What was surprising was how the film handled this; it didn’t telegraph Dheepan’s internal issues, it instead allowed them to naturally play out. Along with the film, we the audience slowly begin to realise that this is a man who isn’t completely with himself, mentally. That development is slowly and carefully presented. By the time it does become apparent, I had already had a lot of time to get to know who Dheepan was as a person, which made is unforeseen descent even more emotional.

But it is not only Dheepan who has a story to be told in this film: Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) is also as much of an important character as he is. Her struggle comes from a much different place. She is a young woman who very much does not like the situation she has ended up in; she has to look after a 9-year-old girl who isn’t hers, she has to live with a man who isn’t her husband, and she has to do all this while living in a dangerous, unknown place. This results in a character that is bubbling with growth. Yalini goes on a journey of not only discovering who she is, but also what her place is in all of this craziness. The sweetness to the character but also the strength of the character makes for someone who is so diverse in their output. Yalini is someone who won’t instantly be likeable to the audience, but with the time that the film allows her to grow, she becomes someone who you can’t help but root for.

What this all ends up meaning, is that you have a film that is supported and propelled by two characters that demand and deserve all of your attention. You can look at Dheepan and Yalini as two separate people of course, but to also look at them as the pair that they become is another great strength of this film. Here you have two characters that don’t get along, that are forced to be with one another, and then add to that they also have to look after a child that isn’t theirs. It’s the perfect recipe for compelling character development. I became so invested in wanting these characters to not only succeed as individuals but as a pair. And thankfully ‘Dheepan’ is a film that more than gives adequate time to watch them grow together. There is perhaps nothing more rewarding, than those little moments where the two have a quiet sit-down together and laugh at each other’s silliness, or come around to supporting the other in their personal difficulties. This is a film that makes caring for these two a joy.

So something that’s interesting in ‘Dheepan’ is the secondary(?) plot that plays out in the background of the film. Much of what we learn about this other part of the film is delivered to us by Dheepan and Yalini’s interactions and observations of events. It is mostly Yalini who gives us an insight though, she sees a lot of the behind the scenes of these scary and nefarious people’s goings on. But for the most part we are left to deduce for ourselves just what exactly is happening in these closed off meetings in this tenement block that is crawling with intimidating individuals. It is also handled in a way that means it never overshadows the main thrust of the film; Dheepan and Yalini. So though I was intrigued by what nefarious things might have been unfolding, I never really found myself the invested in it. The more of the two main characters I got, the better.

‘Dheepan’ is one of those films that I could have happily watched another hour of. When I saw that things were winding down, that we were getting close to it all wrapping up, all I could think was: please just let me have a little bit more of these characters. I think that highlights just how well-defined and explored this main characters are in this film. It had to end, but I really just wanted more.

I am absolutely recommending ‘Dheepan’. I got lost in this one, I forgot it was a film at times, and I was utterly entranced by the lives of Dheepan and Yalini – watch this film and lose yourself in it.

I’d love to know any thoughts you may have on this review, or the film. Please feel free to leave those thoughts in the comments down below. If you’re interested in being kept up-to-date on my other ramblings, perhaps either follow this blog directly, or follow me over on Twitter – @GavinsTurtle. Thank you as always, for taking the time to read any of my work, you don’t know how much I appreciate it.

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Tue, 16 Aug 2016 21:11:58 +0000James Hayhttps://whatithinkaboutfilms.com/2016/08/16/dheepan-a-review/https://julianwhiting.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/french-film-dheepan-issued-on-dvd/
Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:19:45 +0000julianwhitinghttps://julianwhiting.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/french-film-dheepan-issued-on-dvd/DHEEPAN (15) 2015 FRANCE AUDIARD, JACQUES £19.99
Winner of the 2015 Palme d’Or, a former soldier, a young woman and a
little girl pose as a family to escape the civil war in Sri Lanka. They settle in a tough housing estate outside Paris, where, barely knowing each another, they must try and build a new life together.

French writer and director Jacques Audiard’s seventh feature film, Dheepan, was the winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and has garnered many other awards as well. The timeliness of its story about refugees may have been a factor in its acclaim: the film focuses on the plight of Sri Lankan refugees, featuring unknown Tamil actors speaking the Tamil language and French. It is an unusual work — slow-paced, quiet, artfully filmed, emotionally understated and deeply humane, with a climactic paroxysm of violence said to be influenced by Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs.

Audiard is best known as the writer and director of the 2009 A Prophet and the 2012 Rust and Bone.

As the brutal civil war in Sri Lanka nears its endi, Tamil Tiger freedom fighter Sivadhasan (Antonythasan Jesuthasan), who’s on the losing side, is forced to move to a refugee camp. Hoping to move to France and get political asylum, he acquires the passport of a dead man named Dheepan and teams with two other refugees, a woman named Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and a 9-year-old girl, Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby). The three, posing as a family, land in a bleak Paris suburb, where Dheepan gets a job as caretaker of a run-down tenement where violent drug dealers hold sway. The three refugees have trouble adjusting to the French culture and language, but Dheepan does his best to improve the property and make a life for his created family.

Yalini reluctantly takes a job cooking and housekeeping for an infirm elderly man in an apartment where armed thugs do business. Young Illayaal has difficulties in her French school and gets slaps instead of sympathy from Yalini, who resists caring for a girl who’s not her daughter. Dheepan and Yalini develop tender feelings for each other, but Illayaal longs to flee the dangerous environment — too much like the violence she fled — and join her cousin in England. At one point she tries to board a train and is stopped by Dheepan, who seizes her passport.

Dheepan’s past revisits him when his old rebel leader comes to him demanding that he raise $100,000 to buy Lebanese weapons for the defeated fighters back home. A drug gang turf war between apartment blocks rekindles his Tamil Tiger fighting instincts.

The film has authentic feeling for the refugees and their problems, as well as their native culture. A Hindu religious ceremony the refugees attend is beautifully rendered with the help of Eponine Momenceau’s lyrical cinematography. Less convincing are the suburban Paris landscape the refugees inhabit — a drab, post-apocalyptic wasteland inhabited entirely by criminals — and the eruption of action-movie violence in the final 15 minutes.

Lead actor Antonythasan Jesuthasan, a novelist and political activist, was in real life a Tamil Tigers boy soldier in Sri Lanka. Like his character, he fled to France. The authenticity he brings to the role is offset somewhat by his impassive (some might say dull) demeanor.

A far more arresting presence is Srinivasan, whose first feature film this is. Her quietly emotional acting is the film’s most compelling feature. Her scenes with the drug dealer Brahim (Vincent Rottiers), one of her employers, are brilliant, teetering precariously between empathy and danger. The script, by Audiard, Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré, gives her a well-observed speech about the cultural differences between her home country and France. “In Sri Lanka, when you fall and hurt yourself, you smile,” she explains to Brahim, who’s frustrated by her noncommital head-bobbing. “Here, if you smile too much, people think you don’t undersatand or are making fun.” In French and Tamil, with subtitles. Grade: B

Dheepan generated some controversy last year when it was awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes over such contenders as Carol, Son of Saul and The Assassin. Since it hadn’t been regarded by many critics as a potential winner for the prestigious prize, I was curious to see what it was that won over the jury chaired by the Coen brothers. One factor that springs to mind is the writer and director Jacques Audiard whose work has been positively received by the Cannes Film Festival in the past, particularly A Prophet which won the Jury Prize. There is also the cultural relevance of its subject to consider as it depicts the story of refugees fleeing a country ravaged by civil war. Perhaps the reason why Dheepan was initially overlooked as a potential winner is because its greatness is not as immediately apparent as in some of the other nominated films. Whatever the reason, the film’s victory at Cannes had an undeniable effect on my expectations when I went to see it and it is very possible that I might have missed it otherwise. For that reason I am glad that it won.

The film follows Sivadhasan (Antonythasan Jesuthasan), a Tamil Tiger soldier in a devastated Sri Lanka, who is desperate to flee the country and seek asylum in France. To do so he must assume the identity of Dheepan, a dead refugee, and requires a wife and daughter as part of his cover. These roles are assumed by Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and 9-year-old Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) neither of whom have any connection with him or each other. Together they settle in a housing project in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais where ‘Dheepan’ finds a job as a caretaker. Yalini meanwhile finds work caring for the elderly father of a local drug dealer and Illayaal is sent to school. In his attempt to build a new life for himself in a foreign country with two complete strangers, Dheepan finds that the scars and trauma of the life he lived in Sri Lanka is not something that he can easily leave behind or escape.

Dheepan is certainly an understated film as it takes its time with displaying the daunting struggle of its three characters. Even when they have settled in a place miles away from the ruin and destruction of their homeland, they still live in a constant state of fear and panic. All three are haunted by the civil war they are trying to escape but must now face a trauma of a different kind; that of being sent to a foreign place with a people they do not know speaking a language they do not understand. There they must live a lie for fear of being found and sent back. Not only is the prospect of being discovered an ever-present threat but their housing project is also the centre of operations for a drug crew engaged in a conflict with a rival gang. Essentially Dheepan and his ‘family’ have escaped one conflict zone only to find themselves in another. Through this whole experience they suffer from disorientation, isolation and alienation as they struggle to cope with the everyday as well as with each other.

All three of the film’s central actors deliver astonishing performances as their remarkably complex characters. Antonythasan, himself a former member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was doubtless able to draw upon his own experiences in bringing this character to life. We are never given any substantial information on Dheepan’s background, but it is clear from his performance that he is scarred by his memories. Through his expressions one can find guilt for crimes committed, grief for losses felt and pain for wounds suffered. Yalini meanwhile longs for escape and makes it clear that she is only looking out for herself. She feels no obligation to either Dheepan or Illayaal, viewing them merely as cohabitants, and will only talk to them on topics of necessity. Such a harsh environment would be an ordeal for any child to go through, but Illayaal proves surprisingly resilient. As a French speaker she finds it easier to settle in than either of her parents do and, despite some moments of difficulty for her, she does manage to achieve a sense of normalcy.

The majority of the film is simply about the family dealing with the struggles of living a normal life under astoundingly abnormal circumstances. They must learn to live with each other, they must adapt to an alien culture, they must face the dangers that plague them in their new home and they must struggle with the trauma of their past lives. The third act is when these conflicting tensions all finally explode as the plot takes a course that many will find jarring and that some will even dismiss as unwarranted. The development reminded me of the climax in Audilard’s Rust and Bone where the father and son’s time together takes a sudden, ominous turn as the son without warning falls through the ice into the lake. What follows is a stunning sequence which makes particularly marvellous use of sound. Whether the ending is one that the film has earned is up to the viewer to decide. I myself found Dheepan to be a slow burner that grew more compelling and absorbing over time and that was ultimately very satisfying to watch. Its victory at Cannes was well deserved.

There is a certain honesty and straightforwardness present in Jacques Audiard’s “Dheepan” that sets it apart from recent films I’ve seen. That’s no surprise to those who’ve seen the writer/director’s last couple of films, the intense crime drama “A Prophet” and the compelling romantic drama “Rust and Bone“, both of which had a memorable realism about them, offering a look at French denizens on the fringe. “Dheepan” also closely follows characters in France who are just left of center, not of their own preference but moreso out of a hope for a better life. In this refugee tale, Audiard carefully unveils who these characters are and how they arrived where they’re at by slowly peeling back the layers that reveal harrowing backstories and vulnerable truths. Deeply moving and thought-provoking, this is a picture that looks at a destructive past, a precarious present and an uncertain future.

Having lost his wife and children in the Sri Lankan Civil War, former Tamil Tiger warrior, Sivadhasan (Jesuthasan Antonythasan) flees to France, assuming the name of “Dheepan”, off a dead man’s passport. Along with a faux family he’s pulled together consisting of fellow refugee Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and an abandoned 9-year-old girl, Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby), in order to convincingly acquire political asylum, hoping to escape the tragedy and violence of his homeland. He finds work as a caretaker of Le Pré-Saint-Gervais housing projects just northeast of Paris that happen to be populated with territorial gangs. Determined to keep a low profile, Dheepan sends Illayaal to school and finds Yalini a job cooking and cleaning for Mr. Habib (Faouzi Bensaïdi) an elderly invalid in one of the buildings, where she is frequented by the intense Brahim (Vincent Rotters), one of the resident gang leaders.

Assimilation is a challenge for the trio, with young Illayaal dealing with the cruelty of her peers, Yalini traumatized by gunfire in the yard and Dheepan trying to repress his own combat PTSD. Their situation unifies the three strangers, who gradually go from awkward acting to a convincing supportive unit, to the point of showing genuine affection for each other. But when their violent environment becomes more volatile, Dheepan channel his own warrior instincts to protect hid wife and daughter and their new home.

Audiard excels at character development, relishing time that allows viewers to simply get to know this family of three on their own as they get used to what their new daily life consists of. There are challenges within their home as Yalini is inexperienced in the acts of motherhood, not having any kids of her own back in Sri Lanka and is therefore ill-prepared to deal with the ups and downs of the pre-teen that has been thrust upon her life. AS much as Dheepan tries to maintain peace and a positive outlook among the two women, he is also preoccupied and haunted by the threats and violence from his past and present. The more time we spend with Dheepan and his family, the more we feel for their struggle. Despite the fact that they’re in a better geographical setting, it still comes with its own set of challenges and one can’t help but to think how similar this must be for so many refugees that have been in the news lately.

Audiard and his two co-screenwriters, Noé Debra (“Les Cowboys”) and Thomas Bidegain (who’s collaborated with Audiard since “The Prophet”) mindfully avoid stereotypes here, providing the actors with material that can present the audience with real multi-dimensional characters. And the acting is really solid, populating the film with predominant unknowns that convey the uncertainties and anxieties of assuming new roles and identities. All three have a fantastic dynamic with each other – Jesuthasan and Srinivasan as husband and wife and then each of them share some tender and tumultuous moments with Vinasithamby as their daughter. At times, it feels like Audiard is shooting a documentary, that’s how natural and unassuming the performances are. When violence does erupt in their new home, Audiard’s previous experience shooting intense sequences kicks in and his collaborators such as cinematographer Éponine Momenceau (in his first feature-length film) and longtime editor, Juliette Welfling, offer surreal synchronicity.

The entire world that Audiard creates for “Dheepan” is fascinating as he presents flawed and dangerous characters who are disregarding and labeled or resigned to their instinctive natures. He isn’t aiming for anything uplifting here, but by believing in Dheepan, Yalini and Illayaal – despite being unlikable at times – we are also pulled into the drama and wind up caring for them as well. There is a great deal of empathy present as well. Attentive to the struggles of language barriers, conflicting religions and personal grief, Audiard shies away from nothing in embracing the tenuous situation this makeshift family is in.

Some will find the third act a bit too sudden or sensational and while that’s understandable, I had no problem with it. What transpires was simmering under the surface all along and the conclusion is logical and needed for Dheepan’s character.

The highlight of the film is Anthonythasan Jesuthasan’s complex performance, which becomes even more impressive in retrospect once I discovered that as a teenager he joined the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a “helper” after the Black July Anti-Tamil riots. Obviously he’s drawing somewhat from real life here, offering a sobering semi-autobiographical knowledge to his role. The more I read about his past the more I realized his own story could be a movie in and of itself.

“Dheepan” withholds little, delivering a revealing look at people so many often overlook. It is a timely film, one that unfortunately has been timely for decades. It won the the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and has been making its rounds on the festival circuit sense, generating quite the buzz. The story may not have easy situations or provide clear answers, but it does indeed shine an understanding light on characters that will be hard to forget.

Greetings again from the darkness. Wars exist in many different forms. Some are over contested international boundaries, others are religious conflicts, while others are more personal and intimate. The stories of many refugees could be described as fleeing one type of war only to end up fighting a different kind. Such is the story of Dheepan.

Jacques Audiard is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today. A Prophet(2009) and Rust and Bone(2012) are both compelling films, and though his latest may not be quite at that level, it’s still full of intensity and personal drama. Mr. Audiard co-wrote the screenplay with Thomas Bidegain and Noe Dibre, and some of it is based on the remarkable real life story of lead actor Jesuthasan Antonythasan.

Dheepan is a Tamli soldier who is so desperate to flee Sri Lanka that he teams with a woman and young girl he doesn’t know to form what looks like a real family. By using passports of people killed during the war, the pre-fab family of three is issued visas to live in France. Dheepan gets a job as the caretaker for an apartment complex riddled with crime, violence and drugs – and learns to keep his mouth shut and eyes open.

It’s fascinating to watch these three people navigate their new life as they struggle with the language and a new culture. There are flashes of real family problems, but also the awkwardness of three whose only true bond is their escape from their previous life. Living in such close proximity means their true colors are bound to shine through no matter how much effort goes into the family façade.

Jesuthasan Antonythasan (Dheepan) and Kalieaswari Srinivasan (as Yalini his wife) are both excellent and powerful in their roles despite being so inexperienced as actors. Their exchanges are believable, as is their disparate approach to the future. Ms. Srinivasan is especially strong in her scenes with local thug Brahim, played by Vincent Rottiers. The two have such an unusual connection … alternating between warm and frightening.

Some have found fault with the final action sequence, but it’s such a fitting turn of events given Dheepan’s past … plus the camera work is outstanding. The film won the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and it’s another notch in the belt of filmmaker Jacques Audiard. It’s also a reminder that we can never really escape the past.

A family goes from one war zone to another in Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan. The story centers on three Sri Lankans—a Tamil soldier, a young woman, and a nine-year-old—who pose as a family in order to immigrate to France. Once there, the pretend daughter starts attending school while the fake husband and wife became caretakers—he a groundskeeper, she a maid—in the gang-infested projects where they live. Moving briskly, Dheepan covers a lot of emotional ground, showing the quotidian struggles and triumphs of the family, without being mawkish or overwrought. Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Jesuthasan Antonythasan captivate us with their stirring performances, though they are not professional actors. Nicolas Jaar provides the cool, restrained score. And the climax is surreal.

Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

The War and Peace Report is Democracy Now’s morning news show – it’s on the radio right after this one. Be sure to stay tuned because today
host Amy Goodman is broadcasting from Toronto. So my theme this week is war and peace, and I’m looking at two new dramas from France. There are three war survivors who carry their emotional baggage to the beach, and three other war survivors who arrive with minimal baggage at a crime-filled housing complex.

À la vie

Dir: Jean-Jacques Zilbermann

It’s the early 1960s in Calais, France. Hélène and Lili are good friends meeting up to spend three days relaxing on the beach in Berck in northern France. Hélène (Julie Depardieu) is a wispy, ginger- haired woman, always loving and giving. She works as a men’s tailor in Paris. Lili (Johanna ter Steege) arrives by bus from Amsterdam, a smartly-dressed modern woman with blonde hair. And she brings a surprise: their third friend, the voluptuous but petulant Rose (Suzanne Clément). She flew in all the way from Montreal for this get-together. And what is it that connects these three woman and why haven’t they seen each other since 1945?

They’ve been separated because they were all prisoners at Auschwitz. They survived together thanks to Lili getting them work in the kitchen. But in the death march at the end of the war they were separated, and thought the youngest one, Rose, died there. Now the three of them are together again, and all three married other survivors. Lili is divorced, Rose has a troubled marriage in Quebec, and Helene, though she loves her husband, Henri, lives a sexless life. She’s still a virgin since her husband suffered horrible mutilation in the camps.

They are staying at a beachside apartment courtesy of Raymond, a handsome communist from the French Resistance during the war. He still has a thing for the married Hélène. Haunted by their past the three friends save every scrap of food and reuse teabags over and over. They catch up on their missing history as they play in the waves. The beach is filled with girls in bikinis and boys in trunks, Club Mickey, and everyone dancing the twist. Especially a young animateur, a camp counsellor on the beach named Pierre. He likes Hélène, and he’ll kiss her if she lets him. Will Helene be faithful to her husband, forge a relationship with a rich communist or a try a fling with the Club Mickey counsellor?

A La Vie is a light friendship drama set against a heavy topic – Holocaust survivors. Aside from the period nostalgia – beach life in 1960s France — the best thing about the movie is the three friends and the actors who play them so well. Julie Depardieu as hesitant Helene Gerard Depardieu’s daughter, Dutch actress ter Steege is excellent as Lili, and Suzanne Clement (as Rose) who’s featured in Xavier Dolan’s movies – she’s fantastic as Rose. A light movie, but well done.

Dheepan

Dir: Jacques Audiard

Dheepan and Yalini (Jesuthasan Antonythasan and Kalieaswari Srinivasan) are a young Tamil couple in France. They arrive in France with their cute daughter Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) and are resettled in a public housing complex. They are refugees from the Sri Lankan civil war. At last they have escaped the horror of death and violence, and can live like a normal family in France. The thing is, they’re not actually a family at all. Dheepan is a former Tamil Tiger who needed to get out of Sri Lanka, fast. They put together a fake family, strangers from the refugee camp
that would match the description on his visa – a married couple with a young daughter. It worked, but what will their life be like in France?

Not great. Far from paradise, their lives are cold, dark and miserable. They soon discover their housing complex is a haven for Russian gangsters, and a hangout for sketchy teenage druggies. Dheepan works as a caretaker for the buildings and Yalini finds work as a caregiver for a dying old man. Their fake daughter is doing worst of all, with no support at home; her parents are at best indifferent to her problems, and at worst outright mean to her.

But they face even more trouble from the outside. Yalini’s patient is the father

of an especially violent gang leader, holed up in his apartment, facing attacks from rival gangs. She’s Hindu but wears a make-shift hijab to stop unwanted sexual advances. Dheepan, though he keeps his head low, gets involved in conflicts between the buildings. And Tamil Tigers based in France want him to return to the fold and act as a gun runner for them. With a major gang war on the horizon, and violence escalating, Dheepan is forced to return to his past role as a soldier and fight for his family’s lives.

Dheepan is a dramatic action/thriller with a good story, but it didn’t exactly grab me. It was interesting to watch, but I could only observe, not connect with the main characters. I was troubled that it portrays refugees as potential sleeper-cell terrorists. It’s directed by Audiard – who made two fantastic French movies, The Prophet and Rust and Bone — so maybe I set my bar especially high. Dheepan isn’t as good as those two, but it’s definitely still worth seeing.

Dheepan is playing now and À la vie opens today in Toronto; check your local listings.

This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.

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Thu, 19 May 2016 18:54:56 +0000Chris Knighthttps://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/i-was-screaming-inside-xavier-dolan-reacts-to-his-latest-films-damning-reviews-at-cannes/CANNES — There is no such thing as a consensus at Cannes. But the word on Xavier Dolan’s newest, Juste la fin du monde (It’s Just the End of the World), is not good.

Ben Croll in The Wrap calls it “his first total misfire.” In the Hollywood Reporter, Jon Frosch says it’s “cold and deeply unsatisfying.” And Charles Gant in Screen Daily calls it “a minor Dolan,” which at least speaks to the 27-year-old director’s major career – five films at Cannes to date, with 2014’s Mommy winning the Jury Prize. Dolan was also part of the jury that last year awarded the Palme d’Or to Dheepan by Jacques Audiard.

But it’s instructive to note that Tim Robey, writing in London’s Daily Telegraph, claims there is “no emotional release” in It’s Only the End of the World, while Peter Debruge of Variety speaks of “a completely unexpected catharsis.” And were either of them watching the same film as Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian? His four-out-of-five-star review praises “a brilliant, stylized and hallucinatory evocation of family dysfunction.”

Dolan, meeting the press the morning after the world premiere of It’s Only the End of the World, was blunt: “Cannes needs to chill out.” The desire for instant analysis of films can be anathema to a movie that is naturally divisive, or requires contemplation.

Cannes

“Movies have to live inside people,” he continued. “I remember it was a very special experience for me to be on the jury but I wouldn’t do that every year.” Of the bad press: “I’m not particularly worried. There have been glowing reports too.” Though he also admits to a very human reaction: “I was screaming inside.”

This critic found much to admire in the film: exemplary performances from the cast; judicious use of music as a soundtrack to memory; and extreme closeups that evoke the square-screen format of Dolan’s last film, Mommy, even though this new one is Cinemascope-wide in comparison.

But, truth be told, It’s Only the End of the World came at the end of eight days of festival, 22 screenings and numerous interviews, press conferences, glasses of wine and Croisette-bought baguettes. I owe it to Dolan to have a non-bleary-eyed second viewing before passing judgement.

The movie is Dolan’s own adaptation of a play by Jean-Luc Lagarce, himself a young prodigy who founded the Théâtre de la Roulotte at the age of 21, and wrote 25 plays before his death of AIDS in 1995, aged 38. It tells the story of a writer (Gaspard Ulliel) who returns to the family he hasn’t spoken to in 12 years, to tell them he’s dying. An all-star, all-French cast – Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux – play his bickering relatives.

Cotillard said it was “wonderful in human terms and professional terms” to work with Dolan. “He gives of himself, and we try to do likewise. We were one body; we breathed together.”

Ulliard added that Dolan was very present on the set; literally so. “At first it was intimidating,” he said. “We had an impression that we were being filmed with a microscope. It’s the first time I’ve seen a director grab someone by the belt and move him to the other side of the set. It was very physical.”

And Cassel remarked that the camera never stopped shooting. “There are kilometres of film,” he said, which allowed for a very freewheeling set, where anything could be tried, or tried again.

Of course, this meant there was much work when Dolan the director entered the editing suite. There, he pointed out, “you can re-invent, but you can’t invent.”

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It’s Only the End of the World is one of his shortest films to date – 97 minutes – but there are only a dozen or so scenes, one of them 14 minutes long. Dolan spoke of “the scalpel of precision” – not the first time the metaphor of surgery had been raised by his admiring cast – and of the need to “seek and chase those little moments.”

“Bottom line: It was hard. But fun.”

It’s Only the End of the World is set to open in Canada in September, while Dolan is already at work on his next feature, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Starring Kit Harrington, Jessica Chastain and Natalie Portman, it will be the director’s first English-language feature.

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Mon, 16 May 2016 09:29:10 +0000Stuhttps://thelastpictureblog.co.uk/2016/05/16/0542-dheepan/Jacques Audiard’s latest caused a stir in 2015 when it won the Palme d’Or, with a number of critics suggesting the award should have gone to a more deserving film, Son Of Saul and The Assassin being the ones championed loudest. Dheepan‘s arrival on these shores has been met with general appreciation, though, even if many amateur and professional critics seem to have found the ending problematic. But that’s the ending, and I probably ought to begin at the beginning. This is Audiard’s eighth film as director, and the first since 2012’s Rust And Bone. It’s the story of a Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger (the Dheepan of the title, played by novelist Antonythasan Jesuthasan, a former child soldier himself) who must flee his country when he ends up on the losing side at the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War. The single Dheepan intends to move to France, but in order to seek political asylum he needs to have a family, so he is paired with a fake wife named Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), who wants to live with her cousin in England, and a nine-year-old girl named Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby), who Yalini finds and coerces into making the journey to Europe. This is revealed during a brief prologue, largely set within a refugee camp; afterwards, once the director move the action to the suburbs of Paris, Sri Lanka and the characters’ memories of life there ripple through Audiard’s film. The main character has dreams that feature an elephant partially-covered by leaves and he – and others – involved in the war are clearly haunted by what they have seen.

Dheepan serves as an interesting study of the trials faced by migrant families when moving to a new country. Many French films of recent years have taken on the subject, such as Philippe Lioret’s Welcome and Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, while two of Audiard’s recent works – the magnificent A Prophet and 2005’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped – have also concerned themselves with the experiences of ethnic minority characters within modern France. Both of those films are also about small scale criminal enterprises, so it’s no surprise when we discover that the tower block Dheepan and his new surrogate family move into is directly opposite and adjacent to blocks that are controlled by drug gangs. ‘They have gangs here, too?’ inquires Yalini, surprised. ‘Yes…but not as bad as ours’ is Dheepan’s reply. The dealers actually seem to co-exist with the wary, non-criminal residents amicably enough, even if their constant presence on rooftops and outside entrances is threatening and their nighttime noise is a nuisance, but eventually and inevitably violent incidents begin to break out. Initially Dheepan – who is employed as a caretaker for the blocks – manages to keep a safe distance; gradually, however, he seems drawn to the gang and the trouble that surrounds them like a moth to a flame (sitting nearby when there’s no need to, making idle chit chat with gang members, etc.). The link is furthered when Yalini takes a cooking and cleaning job, working for the uncle of an ex-con gang leader (Vincent Rottiers), who she slowly becomes fascinated by.

Kalieaswari Srinivasan in Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan

There’s actually a very pleasing balance here as Audiard weaves the plot thread about Dheepan, Yalini and the gang together with scenes that deal with the process of immigration and settling, as well as broader and briefer examinations of racism and cultural identity within a minority community (the residents of their estate are presumably first, second and third generation French Muslims for the most part, and there’s an amusing line here in which Dheepan innocently suggests that his new wife should wear a veil to fit in with French people around them, which she dismisses curtly). Some of Dheepan‘s most fascinating passages track the development of the three Sri Lankan characters as they come to terms with the new country and, at the same time, one another; they begin as strangers who barely speak a word of French between them but gradually Audiard presents them as a ‘normal’ family unit, who make acquainances within the local area and the wider Sri Lankan community. The film is at its best as a kitchen sink drama examinign the relationships within the family, and it’s during these scenes that we see the bond between Yalini and Dheepan grow, as well as the development of Dheepan’s paternal instincts. Illayaal’s experiences at school also feature prominently: as the new girl she struggles to make friends and is placed in a special learning class to get her language skills up to speed; yet despite everything she has been through she blossoms at school and later, when we see her doing homework in the lounge with her surrogate father, it looks as if the child is teaching the adult, rather than vice versa.

Then we hit that ending, which is Audiard’s vaguely hallucinatory, grim take on Death Wish, Harry Brown, Taxi Driver or countless genre films that depict brutal acts of vigilantism (I even thought that Dheepan‘s odd coda, set in a middle-class suburban England of bright sunshine and barbecue get-togethers, contains an implied and vaguely-comical nod to Scorsese’s celebrated mid-70s work). To his credit the director spends a while building up to the explosion of violence that takes place during the final act, presumably to try and avoid criticism of drastic tonal shifts, but even so the action that transpires feels extreme given everything that has gone before, though not completely out of character for those involved. (Perhaps it feels unharmonious simply because Dheepan succeeds so well as a drama that investigates the migrant experience.) There are attempts to foreshadow Dheepan’s actions during the final act, principally by suggesting that the PTSD-suffering former soldier shares characteristics with the elephant we occasionally glimpse: generally placid, but also extremely dangerous, and ready to charge. At different times we see Dheepan wearing the flourescent Disney-style mouse ears that he hawked around Montmartre when he first moved to Paris, which could be construed as a subtle visual link to the bigger animal, and it’s at least indicative of Dheepan’s state of mind when he enters France.

In all honesty the ending didn’t ruin the film for me, even though I initially felt it was a misjudgment as I left the cinema. For the most part this is an impressive piece of work, with fine performances from the three Sri Lankan cast members. Eponine Momenceau’s photography mixes wide shots of the banlieues with handheld cameras within its corridors, rooms and stairwells, while she has an impressive, deliberately rough-looking style of framing that I quite like, occasionally using foreground objects and walls to partly obscure the faces of the characters. Nicolas Jaar’s score, meanwhile, is atmospheric, and it changes to complement the shifts in Audiard’s material successfully. Pretty good, even if it doesn’t quite match the heights of the director’s best work.

Sometimes it happens that the war you try to escape still manages to hunt you down in another part of the world. A fight you want to end has no intention to end it with you. This is why to touch this subject in the film and avoid all sensitive parts of the immigrant’s life is no easy task. But when the filmmaker of “Rust and Bone”, Jacques Audiard, is on it, you have nothing to worry about.

DHEEPAN follows a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior Dheepan who flees to France for a quiet life. In order to be able to leave the country, Dheepan takes Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) as his wife, and Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) as his daughter. These three estranged people to each other have to learn to live together and convince others that they are a real family. But as you may know, nothing really last forever when you have a past that has no intention to let you go…

It is Yalini you find in the opening scene, who is in a desperate search of an orphaned child to leave Sri Lanka. This is how she meets Illayaal, whose parents lost their lives in a local war. Shortly after she meets Dheepan they agree to pretend as If they were a married couple. Once they are able to convince the French Government their necessity to live in France, Dheepan finds a job as a caretaker outside Paris, while Yalini gets a nursing job to look after an old and sick man.

For a while everything goes perfectly fine. Yalini more or less starts earning money. Dheepan earns the reputation of a respectful man. Even Yalini and Dheepan allows themselves to cross the line of their arrangement and attempt to have a life together. But it’s Dheepan’s past and his uncontrollable temper is what blinds him when it comes to protect the little happiness he has. It’s an incredible journey of a newly built family and their way of learning to live together, no matter what the center story of DHEEPAN, you will simply love.

It appears that director Jacques Audiard has found a great partner to write a screenplay with, as Thomas Bidegain who joins Audiard after the “Rust and Bone” together came up with a different and much more difficult story. In DHEEPAN they explore the radical way of an immigrant life. It shows that sometimes you have to do what you have to in order to protect yourself and your family. It explores the possibility to build a family even though it was just an agreement. It’s about a strong spirit, determination and strength thats required in order to not ruin the little paradise you build. As a result, Audiard brings once again a well-crafted narrative, talented cast and stunning film to endlessly admire.

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Sun, 15 May 2016 09:00:43 +0000Mullen's Movieshttps://mullensmovies.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/rust-and-bone-2012/What do a paraplegic whale trainer and a bare-knuckle boxer have in common?

To answer that question you’re going to have to watch Jacques Audiard’s emotional 2012 drama that was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes. It didn’t win, nor did Marion Cotillard win the Oscar for her incredible performance as Stéphanie, the whale trainer who has a horrible accident and must try to find meaning in her life after losing her legs (Jessica Chastain won for Zero Dark Thirty, the wrong choice in my humble opinion). Matthias Schoenaerts shares the lead as Alain, a terribly irresponsible father and fighter who seems to find much more pleasure in bashing in the face of an opponent than he does spending time with his son. The two give engrossing performances on their own and amp it up even more when on screen together. Their characters are interesting in that they make you want to cheer for them but then continuously frustrate you with their poor decisions and obvious flaws. Audiard puts much care into ensuring that the audience is repeatedly set up to be let down and the actors take care of the rest.

Alain’s nonchalant approach to Stéphanie’s unfortunate situation is what motivates her to continue to enjoy life. Treating her as if the loss of her legs is no big deal, he asks her casually at the beach if she is going into the water or not. She reluctantly agrees and he carries her in. She is rejuvenated after the swim, and gains a newfound sense of enjoyment in her life. In return Stéphanie comes to watch Alain fight and shares in his victories, even at one point becoming his promoter. The relationship dynamic is very well crafted as the two need each other, but don’t necessarily realize how important the other is to their happiness. Alain is much more in the dark about Stéphanie’s importance to him and eventually the two butt heads over the seriousness of their relationship. Alright, I’ll stop with the plot stuff just to make sure I don’t spell out the whole movie. It is important to note, however, that this is a true dual protagonist story, not an easy thing to pull off, especially as effectively as Audiard does.

As will be a trend with any film I watch, I have to comment on the cinematography. The scenes are beautifully and appropriately lit, and with all the ups and downs mood-wise in the film, there is a lot to be conscious of as a cinematographer. Unsurprisingly (I mean, I did mention that this is a good film), the film’s is photography is spectacular. The range of moods required are handled amazingly with everything from shaky-cam point of view shots to include the audience in the crowd that cheers on Alain as he pummels faces in, to claustrophobic underwater shots of Stéphanie’s accident, to dimly lit sexy bedroom scenes, the photography forcefully and discretely draws the audience into the story. Accompanied by the new master of the film score, Alexandre Desplat (sorry Hans, there’s a new sheriff in town) the atmosphere of the film is powerful and undeniable.

Before I get to the end of this thing it’s very important that I mention what I think to be the strongest aspect of this film – its unrelenting realism. It has been a while since I have seen a film that has such a stellar combination of heart, drama, and this sort of “I’m not going to let you off easy” attitude. That last part may seem strange, but the unflinching realism permeates every facet of the story. Yes, the bare-knuckle fighting is brutal, and yes, Stéphanie’s accident and subsequent struggles with the loss of her legs are completely devastating. But where the film really succeeds is in its exploration into the hearts of its characters. While Alain is clearly interested in Stéphanie, it’s not at all for romantic reasons at first, and his selfishness makes him quite a deplorable character in the way he treats his son and his family. Stéphanie isn’t “cured” by her romantic interest in a man (refreshing) and is more or less in a constant state of sadness due to her injury that looks like it might never completely go away. Sounds depressing, right? Maybe, but it’s real. This is where film as a medium has the opportunity, especially a narrative one, to give the audience an experience they can truly draw from, because it focuses on the nature of human beings as we truly are, not how an audience might want to (wrongly) think we are. The reality depicted in Rust and Bone is so true to human nature, so close to being truly authentic, that one can actually learn from it. I’ll leave it to you to decide exactly what you can learn as the experience will likely be different for each individual.

In closing, leave it to the French to make a film that completely blows you away with its beautiful simplicity, while making you feel like you’ve just watched something extremely complex. Be forewarned, you may need to bring a tissue or two when you sit down to watch this one, or at least the back of your hand if you want to wipe your tears away like the tough people do. Also the visual effects used to make Stéphanie look like a paraplegic are incredibly well done (I should really look into how exactly they make a person appear as if they have no legs!), and make for some rather disturbing viewing, but please don’t be deterred! This film really is a force and a heavy dose of emotional realism, something that is greatly lacking in the majority of films put out in the last few years.

Enjoy yourself and let me know what you think. If you have any doubts, watch the trailer below and you should be convinced, it won trailer awards (yes, there are trailer awards).

Just as the Cannes Film Festival is getting under way in the South of France, Canadian audiences have their first chance to see last year’s Palme d’Or winner from French filmmaker Jacques Audiard. The subject matter is equally timely; Dheepan tells the story of a trio of refugees struggling to make sense of and fit into their new home.

When we first meet the title character, a Tamil Tiger played by Jesuthasan Antonythasan, he is looking tired and a little lost as he helps his fellow Sri Lankan soldiers dispose of a number of bodies. Whether he also helped kill them is a question the film wisely leaves unanswered, though his mild manner suggests he is a conscript rather than a volunteer in the conflict.

Dheepan is next seen in a refugee camp, looking for a wife and daughter to match the ones on the passports he holds of a now-deceased family. He finds Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), who then procures nine-year-old Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) through a process that is part adoption, part abduction.

Audiard shows great sympathy for his characters, although he has no illusions about the refugee process. When Dheepan is being interviewed by a French border official, his translator, who knows him from the conflict back home, first instructs him on what lies to tell, then helpfully translates his replies back into French.

Soon the newly formed family is living in a squalid housing estate seemingly controlled by a gang of drug dealers. Dheepan is given a job as caretaker, and busies himself fixing a broken elevator while trying to ignore the violence around him.

Much of the film’s depth comes from the decision to focus on all the characters. Yalini struggles with the language, and takes to answering questions with a bob of her head that can be read as either a yes or a no. Illayaal is quicker to pick up French, but uses it to write sad poems about not fitting in at school.

The refugees are all played by first-time actors, and create an appealing naturalism in their performances. And the camerawork places us, if not quite in their shoes, then at least in their vicinity, bobbing and weaving in their wake.

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Better still, the French drug dealers are presented as more than just stock characters. One could almost imagine there’s an entire film dealing with their leader’s story, one that just happens to cross paths with the one we’re watching.

If Dheepan has a flaw, it’s in the filmmaker’s decision to end on an explosive note, followed by a much calmer coda. Neither seems completely necessary, raising the question of whether the ends justify the means. But in the case of this deeply moving tale, I’m going to say the answer is yes.

Audiard’s (UN PROPHET, RUST AND BONE) latest work, direct from Cannes and a Palme d’Or Winner, is likely the first and only French film shot largely in Tamil. In this one, as in other Audiard’s films, features a desperate protagonist trying to adapt, often successfully in a new environment after much duress and determination.

DHEEPAN is the name of the protagonist, an ex-Tamil Tiger from Sri Lanka (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) who with a woman, Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and child (Claudine Vinasithamby) use false passports and pretend to be a family so that they can immigrate and stay in France where fraternite, legalite and egalite apparently rule. Obviously this is not the case. The three find it just as hard to assimilate, less survive in their new surroundings. They have to learn a new language a well.

The housing project they are assigned to is a front for drug trafficking. Dheepan is given the job as caretaker while his ‘wife’ a job of caregiver for a Mr. Habib (Faouzi Bensaïdi).

Dheepan works as the caretaker for ‘Block B’ and the woman as a caregiver for an old Frenchman while the girl attends school. Like Audiard’s best work UN PROPHET, he shows that prison need not occur behind closed walls.

The film contains other interesting characters besides Dheepan and his family. One is the mysterious Mr. Habib, the elder gent that the wife is hired to cook and look after The other is the Brahim (Vincent Rottiers) who develops sympathy for the wife, Yalini. Unfortunately, Brahim is done away with soon after in the film.

The film’s best segment is the one where the couple have a private talk. Dheepan confesses that he had understood an entire French conversation but finds nothing funny in the joke. The ‘wife’ tells him it is not the joke but that it is Dheepan who has no sense of humour, even in Tamil.

Lead actor Jesuthasan is himself a former child soldier with the rebel group Tamil Tigers (now an accomplished author who have written books Gorilla and Traitor) but his lack of training in acting shows. He is ill equipped to handle the dramatic scenes and ends up pouting or brooding most of the time.

Srinivasan who plays the wife fares better, eliciting both humour and sympathy in her role. But a bigger part in the film should have been written for Rottiers, who is the best actor in the film.

The film’s message appears to be that family is what one makes of it – not what is dished out in terms of blood relatives. Also, home is also what one makes of it. These come out loud and clear through the plot.

The last 15 minutes of the film goes against the grain and mood of what Audiard established so well during the rest of the film. The film opts for a cop-out happy ending after a ridiculous action film-styled shootout in which Dheepan utilizes his ex-Tamil Tigers fighting skills.

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Sun, 08 May 2016 15:49:31 +0000Ed Scheidhttps://cinemasight.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/three-rivers-film-festival-dheepan/The Three Rivers Film Festival last year screened “Dheepan”, several months before its national release. This powerful and absorbing film, which received the 2015 Palme d’Or, the top award at the Cannes Film Festival, shows its master director, Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”), in peak form.

Dheepan is a Tamil fighter on the losing side of the Sri Lankan civil war. To be able to escape to a new life in France as a refugee, he has a woman and young girl pose as his family.

Portraying Dheepan, Jesuthasan Anthonythasan, has a similar background to his character. He fought as a child soldier for a Tamil liberation army until the age of 19. He fled to Thailand before reaching France In 1993 where he obtained political asylum. He has written novels, short stories, plays and essays.

“Dheepan” becomes a compelling family drama as the three strangers must adjust to a new life, living in close quarters to each other.

Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Jesuthasan Anthonythasan in “Dheepan”

Performances are impressive, particularly from Kalieaswari Srinivasan as the “wife” who continually changes her feelings toward Dheepan. She is also unaware of how to treat her “daughter”, leading to emotional conflicts for the new “family”. Srinivasan has worked in theater In India. This is her first film.

Dheepan gets employment in a housing project overrun by criminals. The films builds an acute tension, leading to a gripping conclusion as Dheepan fights to keep the area safe and protect himself and his new “family”.

‘You’re just not funny, not in any language. Not even in Tamil,’ Dheepan’s wife, Yalini, tells him in a rare moment of levity, breaking into a broad smile. It comes at the midpoint of director, Jacques Audiard’s, latest film offering, the appropriately titled Dheepan. It’s a signature dish of social drama, stylised violence and transcendence, happy to revisit themes first announced in Audiard’s 2009 tour-de-force, ‘A Prophet’. And as you’d expect in a film about Tamil refugees fleeing a terrible civil war, it explores how the survival instinct becomes the glue holding precarious lives together. So the eponymous hero poses as a husband and father to a woman and child he has never previously met and, as a family they are able to escape Sri Lanka to start a new life in France, on a grim housing estate in the suburbs of Paris. There he finds work as the caretaker of one of the housing blocks, and slowly establishes himself as a valued local figure, whose utility even the ubiquitous local criminals begrudgingly recognise. He does, after all, keep the place clean and carry out running repairs, leaving them free to conduct their nefarious business in something other than total squalor. His ‘wife’, Yalini, gets a job as a cook and cleaner for what turns out to be the enigmatic local kingpin, Brahim, and their ‘daughter’, Illayaal, is enrolled at the local school. So the Natarajans appear to be a family much like any other on this estate, getting by, trying to move on, doing their best to steer clear of drama. Though what stands out visually is how Dheepan is most often shown at work, mending, cleaning, maintaining, and the contrast with the young gang members, frequently just hanging around doing very little, or shown committing random acts of vandalism – a predictable roll call of smashed lights, graffiti, litter and weaponised bravado.

Hard working immigrants hiding in plain sight. It’s just the latest of many masks the protagonists have become adept at wearing.

‘Where we’re from, when we fall, we smile. When we’re in pain, we smile,’ Yalini tells Brahim, when he asks her why she always has the same expression. They laugh about the head wobbling routine (Is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’?) but the place she’s from, Sri Lanka, barely seems to register with the gangster. It’s a telling detail, and not entirely consequence free. Indeed, that place she’s ‘from’ rears up again when she asks Dheepan whether the gangs on the estate are like the ones back home. Dheepan agrees, yes, they’re thugs, but not as dangerous as the ones back home. The warning signs are there. But no one seems to pick up on them, even when he uses a makeshift wheelbarrow to paint a ‘no fire zone’ between two of the warring blocks on the estate. Whilst incurring the wrath of Brahim, the caretaker remains a figure of fun for the footsoldiers, mocking his efforts to draw white lines by asking whether he intends to ‘snort the line’ or whether he has ‘cut it with curry’. He barely registers in their consciousness, other than as a skivvy to clean up after them, and therein lies a fatal error of judgement. If he’s not exactly funny in any language, then they’re not all that smart in the local argot. At a makeshift roadblock manned by local hoodlums, Yalini is subjected to a body search and Dheepan himself narrowly avoids injury when a breeze block is thrown at him from the roof. Yet the gangs ignore the rigidly defined logic of their own ‘turf’ wars and imagine these boundary breaches will go unpunished. Recalling something of The Wire and Slim Charles’ apocryphal warning, ‘If it’s a lie, then we fight on the lie’, Audiard’s film showcases the damaging certainty that sometimes a lie is all that’s worth fighting for. In this case the lie that brought them together, and to France. The lie that they are a family, husband and wife and daughter, the presumed sanctity of which nonetheless remains bound up with certain codes of conduct. With the expectation that certain conventions, boundaries if you like, will not be breached. And of course there are consequences when they are, the inventory of low level thuggery reactivating something atavistic in the apparently mild mannered janitor.

If the larger part of this film works well as an intimate portrait of lives observed in miniature, under the radar of the famous city just a train ride away, then the final act owes more to the classic trope of the revenge western, in all its guises, from The Searchers to Point Blank to Taxi Driver. The banlieue, Le Pre, which Dheepan touchingly explains to Yalini means ‘fields’, seems utterly remote, physically or just as an idea, from the rest of Paris. Indeed its sound (gunshots, fireworks) and self contained fury (a low level turf war) presage a hermetic blindspot which turns out to have lethal consequences. And that’s the point Audiard seems to be making, that it’s sealed off, this world, from that other Paris, from its grand monuments, its paeans to art, culture, civilisation, from the city of the global, and romantic, imaginary. Lest we forget, too, from the totemic city, which has featured so prominently in this past year as a kind of heritage site, ground zero for revanchists of every stripe. And where the classic La Haine (1995) located this schism (between centre and periphery) in a sociology of despair, Dheepan largely dispenses with the structural alibi.

When pressed on this, Audiard himself has said, ‘I wanted to give migrants a name, a shape, a violence of their own.’ This has ruffled some liberal feathers, and that’s surely a good thing. Life off the grid is always more complicated than the theories supplied by academic cheerleaders. In any case, since when has any decent art ever subscribed to the dreary literalism of policy vendors? Exactly. So when Dheepan is stirred into action, the local gangs seem blindsided. Up to that point his presence in their world has been largely passive and that’s the role he’s allotted in their very limited imaginary. During a quiet moment, just before heading off for a spot of the heavy stuff, one of the enforcers confides in Dheepan that even the thuggery round here is outsourced; that he himself is not from Le Pre, and that the drug kingpins prefer to use ‘outside’ enforcers on the estate as they have no ties to the place, and so won’t let sentiment interfere with the brutal task at hand. The caretaker listens without saying a word, storing the detail for future reference. In the end, as with Lee Marvin’s Walker (Point Blank) or Terence Stamp’s Wilson (The Limey) or countless other lone wolves in the history of cinema, what unfolds is precisely the result of that misjudgement. That the caretaker is simply that, a mute witness to the playground antics of the hoods. And of course what that façade relies upon is the unerring ability of these hoodrats to mistake surface for substance, and to miss out history altogether. Its return is underscored in the figure of the elephant, whose image recurs in a swaying leitmotif, perhaps suggestive of other traditions ‘which never forget’. In Lord Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, the remover of obstacles, invoked by Yalini during a visit to the local Tamil mandir. And his tropical incarnation, witness to untold horrors on the island. Finally, in the figure of Dheepan himself, a man raised through war and who has already lost everything – his home, his real wife and children – to that war. Next to that, the local turf wars being played out on the estate barely raise a pulse, though the violence they beget draws ever closer. Dheepan drinks to forget, the lies as much as the violence, but in the end, as Sartre points out elsewhere, ‘what is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh.’

And let’s be clear, when something primal finds itself up against something stylised, who doesn’t inwardly rejoice when cutlass licks bone?

One last thing. About the eponymous hero, Dheepan Natarajan, and the possible significance of that name. Nataraja refers to the Hindu God Shiva in a particular incarnation as a cosmic dancer. Shiva’s role as creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe, is said to convey a conception of the never ending cycle of time. The purpose of his dance is also to release mankind from the illusion of the idea of the ‘self’ and of the physical world. Which might be one way at least of looking at or making sense of that final, otherwise jarring scene. Is it real or has transcendence already occurred?